Monthly Archives: March 2015

A Tour Around Rincón in Pictures

As requested, I have compiled some pictures of Rincón, Puerto Rico. Rincón is surrounded by water on three sides, so there is good reason that most pictures of the town show the beach and/or ocean. However, to get a better sense of this area, here is a pictorial display. I hope this shows both the inner workings of Rincón as well as “slice of life” scenes.

First on the tour: The Lighthouse or Faro the farthest west you can possibly go on the main island of Puerto Rico.

Faro
Lighthouse/Faro

From the lighthouse park you can overlook one of the most popular surfing beaches:Domes named after the globular now defunct nuclear power station

Domes Beach      Corona Pro from Lighthouse
Domes Beach on a quiet day and during the Corona Competition

Next is the downtown plaza area that is bustling with activity.

Alcaldia Rincon
Alcaldia/Town Hall

Downtown on Thursday night is the place with the best night life because of the Art Walk! You can check out great artisanal work as well as have a beer at the hugely popular Rincón Beer Company.

RBC
Rincón Beer Company from the road on a Thursday night

Sipping coco
Enjoying a coco frío from the farmer’s market

Downtown Rincón is great on Sunday mornings for the organic farmer’s market where you can find fresh fruits and vegetables

Center at Rincon
Fountain in Downtown Plaza

Cerro los pobres
Strange name for a neighborhood near downtown: Cerro los Pobres -Hill of the Poor People

Around the corner from downtown is the cemetery, public works (trash and recycling), an indoor skate park (Skate Town) and the rarely utilized public library.

Skate Park
Mural at the skate park

Obras publicas
Public works: Trash and recycling

There are also lots of little shops, doctors, dentists and pharmacies near downtown as well as a medical center/emergency center.

Emergencia small
Costa Salud Medical Center

Going in the other direction from the plaza you’ll find the police station and further down the road, the post office.

Post office
Rincón Post Office

There are many little fruit stands and food shacks all over town.

Store1
La Placita

And plenty of restaurants too!

La Cambija
La Cambija Restaurant

Besides the immediate downtown area, most of Rincón is pretty rural and it gets pretty steep quickly. If you drive up the hills of Rincón/Aguada/Añasco for about 3-5 miles as the crow flies or about 20 minutes you can look out at some incredible vistas!

Viewatalaya

However, down a little lower the views are pretty spectacular as well!

Beach House Sunset  english rose view
View from the Beach House and the English Rose

Mainly because of the gradation of the slopes, houses are mostly right on the road and about 80% of them are simple rectangular concrete construction, though occasionally you’ll see a wood house too.

Typical concrete house Concrete House

IMG_2742 woodenExamples of houses in Rincón

 Kayak 10 BlogRincón from a different perspective: on the water

Because Rincón IS a beach town, it is really hard to describe it in pictures without the beach! You must literally try to avoid the beach since it is surrounded on 3 sides by it! There are so many activities, businesses and events that are beach centered. And in some ways it is just the background of life here. Right behind the Econo grocery store not 50 paces away is the beach! The beaches in Rincón are phenomenal and each one is a little different. While Rincón is mainly known as a surf town, there are beaches for everything: boating, snorkeling, surfing, swimming, bonfires, camping, secluded beaches and beaches to party with restaurants and bars!

Surfer Xing
Beware! Surfer Crossing!

steps(small)

Relaxing on the grass Cassie Sunset small

IMG_0825 Paddle Out bonfire

Welcome to Rincón in photos! I hope you enjoyed the picture tour!

bienvenidos-a-rincon
Nos vemos pronto, espero!

 

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Cabin Walls and Pozo

We are at the phase of the cabin project where we can really see the shape that the house is taking. This week we began framing the walls and digging the “pozo.” Pozo means well, but in this case, it is the word they use for septic tank. This hole has to be at least 6 feet in the ground, 6 feet wide and 6 feet in length. Below about 2 feet, it is rock hard soil. And they are digging by hand. In the full sun. Yah. There are some worn out guys by the end of the day.

Digging the septic hole
Britton and the guys take turns digging and removing the dirt for the septic

Before we even started these tasks, Britton installed all the hurricane clips beneath the house as well as brought over and powerwashed nearly all of the 2x4s. Between him and me, I think we probably washed about 200 pieces of wood, and some of them really needed it.

Powewashing boards in the quebrada
Britton pauses during powerwashing (sorry it’s a little blurry)

This is such a major project it quickly becomes exhausting. The guys often work straight through in the hot, blazing sun. Since we had to clear the area before we could build, it is just roasting without shade. The good thing is that we think it is going to be an excellent candidate for solar power.

Framing
Framing the first wall

Every single thing that you see in these pictures was brought over by hand through the jungle up and down slick slopes under and over trees and vines. I don’t think anyone would deny that we really are a team of go-getters with can-do attitudes (but they may say we are a little crazy too  🙂 )!

Walls up
Two walls up

We are still deciding on a few things like siding (there is really only one choice at any ferreteria: T-111 siding -but we would prefer something else, windows -Miami shutters (Air Masters) must make up 90% of the market here so again not much choice in the matter unfortunately, and we can’t find any rolls of insulation anywhere. Not that we really need insulation for temperature reasons (there will be no heating or air conditioning inside) but we would like it in order to fill the cavities so that bees or bats won’t want to once again take up residence inside. These are fairly minor issues, they just make our days “off” seem like endless scavenger hunts with promising leads, but all trails point to the same limited choices (anyone with any suggestions?). Cést la vie in Island Construction.

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Tamarind

Bowl of tamarind
Tamarind from a tree out back

One of our new favorite snacks is tamarind or tamarindo in Spanish!

We really had never seen or eaten tamarind before, but wow, what a treat! It’s like candy growing right off the tree. It tastes a bit like a chewy sweet tart candy. You just pull the fruit off the tree, crack it open and suck the jelly off the seeds. You can also make juices, candies or sauces with the pulp. I prefer to just eat it straight from the tree.

It is currently in season here in Puerto Rico and we have two or three big trees right here on the property. We are always amazed by the wide variety of tropical fruit here, but even more so we are amazed that these great fruits aren’t more common in the stores in Puerto Rico! So many things can be grown here (and are!) but they just don’t make it through the “normal” distribution chains. You’ll see things like this tamarind from Thailand sometimes before you’ll see the local Puerto Rican variety! It’s crazy!

Tamarind Walmart
Tamarind all the way from Thailand in a Puerto Rican Wal-Mart!

That’s why we get a lot of our Puerto Rican produce at the little fruit stands or just grow it ourselves. We made a short little video that shows how to identify both the tree and the fruit and how to tell if it is ripe or not. Enjoy!

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And New Baby Turkeys!

Today we found two baby turkey poults. They had been separated from their mom by the fence, so Britton went over and helped them over.

Britton and the turkey mom and babies
Britton helping out the turkey mom and babies

The mom seems very proud of these two little ones and they look as if they have just hatched. There are 4 other turkeys in the jungle, and probably more eggs on the nest that these came from, so we may soon be overrun by turkeys! Yay!

Turkey mom and chicks
The poults are so small compared to the mom

It is springtime here in the tropics. The birds and the bees are doing their thing. The next generation is in full swing.

Parcha
Big black bee pollinating a passionfruit flower

Mama turkey and her babes

 

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